Walk for Tragic Ship Carricks in Sligo

by irishcanadianfamineresearcher

A family’s 21-mile walk to get to Sligo Port to leave for Canada during famine times on a ship that eventually sank will be commemorated next month.

On 4th April, Rose Marie Stanley with her husband Terry will lead a Famine Trail Commemoration Walk from Cross, Keash to Sligo Port. Rose Marie is a fifth generation descendent of Patrick and Sarah Kaveney, who with their six children did this same walk on the 4th April 1847, when as famine victims they left Ireland in the hope of a better life in Canada.

Mullaghmore and Cliffoney Historical Society in conjunction with descendents of different branches of the Kaveney family and other walking groups are undertaking this walk in memory of Patrick and Sarah and their six children, and all those who sailed with them to Canada on the ill fated Carricks in April 1847. The walk is 21 miles long and will start at the old Kaveney homestead in Cross at 9am and will proceed through Ballymote, Colloney, Ballysodare, and on to Sligo Port where they will arrive about 4pm. A short ceremony will take place at the pontoon beside the Custom and Ballast Quays, from where the Carricks set sail on its final journey.

Patrick and Sarah Kaveney were tenants of Lord Palmerston and became the first batch of his Assisted Emigrants to leave Sligo in 1847 for Quebec. Patrick and Sarah left on the 5th April 1847. At Sligo Port they were joined by 28 other families, a total of 173 emigrants, all former Palmerston tenants.

Some 17 of the families came from the Ballymote estate, 5 more came from Ennismurray, and 6 came from Ahamlish. Just over three weeks after leaving Sligo these emigrants entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence and were in sight of the Canadian coast when the Carricks was caught in a snow storm and crashed into the notorious Cap des Rosiers. Only 48 passengers survived. Patrick and Sarah with their son Martin survived; their five daughters were drowned.

They set up home in Jersey Cove and had four more children In 1855 Patrick died in a snow storm as he attended St. Patrick Day celebrations.

Rechristened Kavanagh in Canada, Patrick and Sarah set about establishing their new lives and local families helped them out until they could fend for themselves. They set up their new home in Jersey Cove, the Gaspe, had four more children and in 1855 Patrick died in a snow storm as he attended St. Patrick Day celebrations. Now 168 years after arriving in the Gaspe, family branches have spread out across Canada, but they still retain the family base in Jersey Cove. Most family branches are French speakers although some remain English speakers. Down the generations the family retained knowledge of, and came in search of, their Sligo roots. But only in recent years were they able to re-establish those roots and reconnect with long lost relatives who will join Rose Marie and Terry on the upcoming walk.

A monument, erected by the parish of St. Patrick’s Montreal, stands in the Gaspe in memory of those who drowned with the sinking of the Carricks. In May 2011 long lost remains were found in what appears to have been a mass grave near where the tragedy occurred. Investigations are underway to determine if these remains are those of Carricks victims.